RICHMOND, Va. – After falling in extra
innings Friday, Virginia Commonwealth University recovered and
picked up a doubleheader sweep against Fairfield University with
wins of 7-6 and 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at The Diamond.

The Rams have won four of their first six games
to start the year, while Fairfield drops to 1-2 after three
games.

"I thought we had great production out of our
starting pitching today and came up with some good stops
defensively," said VCU Head Coach Paul
Keyes. "But we have to stop walking guys late in the
game. It's something we haven't done a very good job of and
it led to a loss out here last night and it almost cost us again
today.

"Every game we're getting a better feel for what
we need to do as a coaching staff to get these guys ready to
go. At this point in the season we are just trying to find
the nine guys that want to go out there and compete. We have
a much better feel of that after today."

VCU pressured the Stags the entire day as the
Black & Gold had at least one batter reach safely in 11 of its
14 innings Saturday, including all eight trips to the plate in game
one.

Greg Fujii drew a walk on four
straight pitches to start the first contest before John
Lenherr sent a charge into left field and nearly missed
his first home run as a Ram but the ball landed just a few feet shy
of the wall.

Richard Gonzalez continued with
a single up the middle and stole second to put a pair of runners in
scoring position with one out. Van Meter worked a full count
but went down on strikes and Paul Nice contributed
a two-RBI single into center to put the Rams on top early, 2-0.

Jason Rago laced a one-out double into the gap in
left center and advanced to third on a wild pitch in the top of the
second. Rago came home on a groundout by Marco Garamella to
pull the Stags within 2-1.

Chris Horning was hit by a pitch to load the
bases with one out in the top of the fifth inning and Rago tied the
score at 2-2 as he came home on a passed ball and Fairfield went
ahead after an RBI-groundout by Ryan Furbeck. Rams' starter
Blake Hauser struck out Rafferty in what would
have ended the inning, but his offering slid past catcher
Nate Furry and the Stags increased their lead to
4-2.

VCU cut Fairfield's advantage in half in the
bottom of the fifth as starter Scott Gussaroff issued a pair of
walks to begin the inning. With one out, Van Meter came
through with his first hit of the afternoon, a double into left
center and got the Rams within 4-3.

The Black and Gold loaded the bases as three
straight batters reached with two outs in the seventh. Van
Meter singled to left, Nice reached on a throwing error and
Michael Cheatham was hit by a pitch.
Taylor Perkins came off the bench and crushed a
ball into the right center gap, which cleared the bases and VCU
regained the lead at 6-4.

Van Meter, who made his first appearance on the
mound and picked up a save after tossing the final two innings in
game one, was among a furry of defensive changes for VCU in the
eighth. The Rams picked up an insurance run in the bottom of
the frame as Fujji got things started with a standup double to left
field. He then scored on an RBI-single by Lenherr to make it
7-4.

Fairfield made it interesting late as seven
consecutive batters reached to start the ninth but the Stags, who
left the bases loaded to end the game, could only manage two runs
on two hits and one VCU error.

Hauser picked up his first collegiate win for VCU
going seven innings allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits
with four strikeouts and no walks.

In game two, Rams' starter Michael
Graham retired six straight and 12 of the first 13 batters
he faced. Carmine DeVito was the only Stag to reach base
during the first four frames as he doubled to center to lead off
the third inning. Harring then popped up and Lenherr made a
diving catch on a line drive to keep the streak going.

VCU took a 2-0 lead for the second time in as
many games after plating two runs in the bottom of the
second. Van Meter and Nice reached on a walk and hit by
pitch, respectively, to start the inning. Nick
Kime came through with his first collegiate hit to plate
Van Meter before Nice scored after an RBI groundout by Perkins.

Lenherr contributed an RBI single to put VCU on
top 3-0 in the third.

However, Fairfield got to Graham a bit in the
fifth and scored a pair of runs. Anthony Hajjar singled to
start the frame and Rago followed with a walk to put runners on
first and second with no out. DeVito advanced the runners
after tapping back to Graham, who allowed two runs on three hits in
five innings of work to earn his first win of the year, and Haring
got the Stags on the board and pulled within a run on a two-RBI
singled to center.

For the third time in the series Fairfield would
threaten in the final frame. After Hajjar struck out looking
to start the seventh, Jonathan Watson issued
back-to-back walks and a passed ball put runners in scoring
position with one out. Watson settled down and struck out
Harning before Aaron Morgan, who induced a fly
ball for the final out, picked up his first save of the season and
completed the Saturday sweep.

VCU and Fairfield will conclude the four-game
series with a 1 p.m. matchup Sunday at The Diamond.